I need to spend more time on this community site. Maybe I am misspeaking here.
There are so many wonderful discussions from folks classically trained. And nuances are explored. Unfortunately my parents didn't have the means for lessons as a kid, so I taught myself, playing by ear (and heart). Although I marvel at discussion on Ravel. I can't fully relate. What I want is to add strings to my songs. A complement vs mocking up sounds and Sibelius scores. Anyone relate?
Although I am pretty musically illiterate (read/play music slowly) I have a feel for it. I found a few gems by Bach...Arioso and Air. As a technical person in my day job, for much of what I care about (supplement with strings vs orchestra), these short pieces are a wonderful place for newbs to start. In my lingo, for my interests, a "minimal spanning set" of things I'd like to learn. Arioso is nothing short of amazing. Thought I'd share my first rough mix with you newbs.
https://soundcloud.com/simitree/arioso
As an engineer (degree in physics, software my 30+ years, inventing) I can find so many books that break down in detail about anything I am interested in. There are so many many books and resources that often I find I need to read several to get the full picture. So....I looked for the breakdown and books on Arioso. For as long as music has been around surprisingly sparse!! Shockingly if I am honest.
I hired a talented pianist/teacher to help me read thru a quintet score (music above, but warning that I transposed it down to F because i am grafting it into a song, and I can barely reach F vocally. Not a real singer). As she played thru the score (I can provide that)...she was amazed at how Bach did things you wouldn't expect. She rattled it off...but I've yet to capture it. Like inversions etc.
If this was engineering I could find 10 books that dissected it, explained all the quirks, section by section. There is amazingly very little that I've seen. Sibelius was able to parse it and find some interesting chord structure.
Here is my wild ass thought. Why doesn't the community take on eg Arioso (all less than 3 min of it) and team tag it? Can experienced folks figure what I did? What tools I used? How I panned? Where I doubled instruments? What settings I made? So here is the deal. I assume there are many scenarios that sound great, by more experienced people than me the noob. If we could tag team "minimal spanning set" songs such as Arioso...that would help a different user subset than properly schooled musicians...I suspect there are others like me not as classically schooled...that would be a big help (this is where others chime in if I am not alone).
So that's the thought...come up with a short list of classic/useful songs, and have the SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) comment. Of course there will be variants. I am considering setting up a wiki site...but only with links (to say soundclound) where the SMEs can share their wealth...show/explain setups...and for us noobs...with the SMEs. Show me what settings you do for Arioso (Air, or whatever)...what various tool settings...what mix...what pan (I tried to model the classic left-to-right stage setup. DB on right!). Perhaps completely obvious to you music majors..but trying ochestra, chamber and solo (quintet) setups was amazing. Depending upon what you are looking for....a lot of choice (maybe obvious to music majors. The Eastman School of Music is in my town btw...hoping to connect there).
Off my soapbox. Happy weekend all.
Paul